What next for Narendra Modi: BJP’s PM candidate to hard sell governance model

Narendra Modi, who was declared BJP’s prime minister candidate on Friday, has several priorities and many plans up his sleeves to galvanise the party machinery behind him.

Modi’s first public appearance – after his anointment - is at Rewari in Haryana on September 15 when he addresses a rally of ex-servicemen in the company of former army chief VK Singh.

As outlined by him in his nomination acceptance speech on Friday, Modi is set to hightlight once again the issues of corruption and lack of governance under the UPA government’s rule, rake up case of sleaze involving defence deals.

But, ultimately Modi’s close aides say, he will hard sell his ideas of governance. The BJP's plan for reviving the Indian economy will get his attention and be unwrapped soon. He wants a strong imprint of his call for "minimum government and maximum governance," said a key aide.

True, Modi is out to project a governance model on the basis of his state government's success in administration, said BJP officials. But, as part of branding of his name as an able administrator, he wont limit himself to going around the country, talking about his Gujarat story.

He will come up with ideas born out of his state’s experiment but can be replicated anywhere, his aides said.

Last December,when he won the mandate for a third time, his government's general administration department (GAD) came out with a compendium of “best practices” in Gujarat that are innovative and can be adopted in rest of India.

The compendium is broadly on the lines of what Modi told students of Delhi's Shri Ram College of Commerce in a well attended gathering on February 6, early this year emphasising on good governance as the mantra for expansion of social opportunities, removal of poverty, good quality service, enlightened policy makingh and an administration imbued with professional ethos.

Modi wants to highlight through his campaign that good governance does not occur by chance and must be nourished explicitly and consciously by the state.

Listing the best practices in Gujarat, his government's document outlines in detail the steps taken by Modi in administration, job creation, investment and promotion, primary education, health, agriculture, rural development, science and technology, energy, urban development, social justice and empowerment, food and civil supplies.

As for Modi's innovative approaches in governance, the document says India cannot blindly follow the capitalist model of growth that puts excessive reliance on market forces.

"For, such a model may fail to provide stability to the Indian democracy. And yet, rapid economic growth is essential to meet aspirations of the youth. Under the circumstances, planners have to devise ways and means to secure rapid growth with an approach that imbibes Gandhian values."